Indians Prospect Insider

In his weekly Sunday notebook Tony compares this current concoction of the Indians to a Twins team that made a pretty strong run in the AL Central from 2002-2009. While the Indians have a long way to go to enjoy the kind of success the Twins had during that time, the comparison is not far off at all. He also touches on how the Indians absolutely should not have a fire sale, the tough situation Matt LaPorta is in, and more.

The Indians offense was stymied by one Kyle Lohse, a right-handed starter formerly with the Minnesota Twins who never really had any luck with the Indians over the years. That all changed on Saturday night, as the Indians were shutout for the first time in 2012. Carlos Beltran, who was pursued by the Indians this offseason, had three hits, including his 17th homer, as the Cardinals won 2-0. Jim Berdysz gives his Second Thoughts about game 58, after the jump...

The first-place Lansing Lugnuts (42-19) defeated the Lake County Captains (29-32) by a score of 6-5 on Saturday night at Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing. The win clinched the first half championship of the Midwest League’s Eastern Division for the Lugnuts. Lansing scored all six of their runs in the bottom of the first inning of off Captains’ starter Elvis Araujo (2-5, 3.88) and relied on their bullpen to hold the lead in the late innings.

The Carolina Mudcats (29-31) lost both games of the doubleheader to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (30-30) Saturday by a tally of 3-0 in the first, and 8-1 in the second. The Pelicans put together a two out rally in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead to start the game.

Akron’s Nick Weglarz hit a big walk off homer to right field in the bottom of the 10th inning, pushing the Aeros to a 2-1 victory over the Altoona Curve Saturday night at Canal Park. The home run was Weglarz’s team-leading sixth of the year, and came on a 2-2 pitch from left-handed reliever Jhonathan Ramos. The long ball traveled past the bleachers in right, starting a home plate celebration before the fireworks following the game.

For a couple seconds Saturday night, the second largest crowd of the season at Huntington Park didn’t know what to do. Columbus shortstop Gregorio Petit had just launched a towering drive down the left-field line, but the fans remained silent, as they, and many of the players and coaches, weren’t sure if the hit was fair or foul.

Nick Weglarz hit a game-winning home run on Saturday night for a home run in back-to-back nights. T.J. House dominate once again for Akron, making an early case for advancement. The top spot of ATF goes to a guy that's already played well with the Indians this year, but can't find a permanent spot on the active roster. Join Jim Pete for the weekend edition of IPI's Around the Farm.

The Indians aren't perfect, but if you take a closer look at the division, neither is anyone else. Who has less flaws? Is it the White Sox, the Tigers, the Royals or our very own Cleveland Indians? It's a tough call, but Jim Pete tries to take a quick glimpse to figure out if there's one team that stands out above the rest. Here's your weekly Saturday dose from the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

This is a continuation from part one of Tony's Q&A that he had with Indians Vice President of Scouting John Mirabelli on Thursday. Part one posted yesterday, and in part two today Mirabelli talks about the new CBA and the effect it had on the draft this year, the learning process the Indians went through with this new wrinkle in the draft, his son Tommy being drafted, and much more.

Josh Tomlin looked like an ace in leading the Cleveland Indians over former Tribe starter Jake Westbrook and the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. With Michael Brantley adding to his hit streak, and the middle of the line-up dominating, The Indians would coast to a 6-2 victory. Jim Berdysz gives his "Second Thoughts on the Indians victory."

Last night was a good night all around in the Cleveland Indians organization as every single team won from the big league team in Cleveland to the Low-A team in Lake County. There were some nice performances offensively last night, but as usual, Mr. Goedert had another good game and just continues to produce big numbers this season.

In the first of a three game series, the Akron Aeros defeated the Altoona Curve, 8-7, for their tenth consecutive win at home in Canal Park. The Aeros and the Curve started off slow having only three hits between them for the first few innings. In the fifth inning, with one down, Nick Weglarz hit a solo homerun over the right field fence to put the Aeros up 1-0.

The Carolina Mudcats (28-31) opened up there series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (30-29) with an impressive 5-1 win pushing their winning streak to three games. Behind second baseman Tony Wolters' 2-for-4 and two RBI night, the Mudcats scored early on Pelican starter Randy Henry who was making his first professional start as he has been the Pelican closer for the majority of the year.

For the Columbus Clippers, their four-game series against the Buffalo Bisons has been one of offensive ups and downs. After exploding for 21 runs on Tuesday, the next two games proved to be far more challenging at the plate. The offense came back around on Friday, as the Clippers (28-33) defeated the Bisons (35-27) by a final score of 9-1.

The Lake County Captains (29-31) scored ten runs in the late innings to defeat the Dayton Dragons (25-36) by a score of 14-6 and avoid the sweep on Friday night at Fifth Third Field. The win leaves Lake County 3.5 games out of the wild-card spot with nine games left.

Here is the IPI's 2012 Draft page that has everything you need to know about each of the Indians' 40 selections in this year's draft. This page has all of the player information in one place with link outs to each player's draft page that has information, capsules, scouting reports, video, and so on.

Tony had a chance to sit down with John Mirabelli yesterday, the Indians Vice President of Scouting, and they touched on a plethora of topics surrounding the 2012 Draft. In today's first of two parts, Tony and Mirabelli discuss lots of things with this year's draft from the selection of Tyler Naquin, the absence of any left-handed pitching selections, how they prepared for the draft, and lots more.

Tony continues to provide lots of updates on players from the Indians' 2012 Draft and their signing status. Some players are signing right away, others will drag out until the July 13th deadline, and some players will be followed this summer for consideration later. Updates on Dylan Baker, Joe Wendle, Jacob Lee, Nelson Rodriguez, Louis Head, and Nick Pasquale are provided in today's update.

Tyler Cannon showed offensive promise last season, but struggled to start the season in 2012. Ronny Rodriguez did the same. Both found their inner grooves on Thursday night. Juan Diaz hit a blast that continued his hit streak since returning from Cleveland. The top ATF performer showcased the right-stuff, well, the Wright stuff anyways.

Steven Wright held the New Britain Rock Cats to two hits and a run over seven innings Thursday night, winning his fifth game of the year and lifting the Aeros to a 2-1 victory at Canal Park. The Aeros (36-20) completed a three-game sweep of the Rock Cats and have won seven of the last eight games. The Aeros have won nine straight home games, sweeping three straight series in the process. Overall, the Aeros are 23-7 at Canal Park this season.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!